


All Fired Up

by FrostedFox



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drug Use, F/M, Prostitution, Slow Burn, Violence, no Snoke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-18 05:54:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9371012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostedFox/pseuds/FrostedFox
Summary: The world is a terrible, terrible place for people who know too much.Kylo Ren is a hacker and tech company CEO. Rey is just trying to survive on the streets, by any means necessary. (Check the tags for warnings!)





	1. Watch This Meeting Hall Sweat and Shake

Kylo Ren killed at meetings. Even business meetings in the Jakku district, where the streets were lined with beggars and pawn shops — things that made his coworkers at First Order feel uncomfortable just added to his sense of superiority. But today something had him on edge. Today, he was meant to meet with one of his mother’s old friends.

He took on the task as a challenge. To send Hux would be the easy route, and Kylo didn't take the easy route. He tethered his mind to a place of red lightning and razor sharp ice. As he made the turn off Starkiller Avenue and onto Niima Road, he allowed his mind to clear. Kylo parked his car a few blocks away from the coffee shop where he was to meet Lor San Tekka, and chose to walk down, stopping to purchase an eighth of cocaine from one of the beggars. A reward, he told himself, for when the job was done.

As he reached for the door, another man pushed it open and nearly smacked into Kylo, who swore. The man muttered at apology under his breath and took off, avoiding eye contact. Fear from others was something Kylo was used to. Niima Coffee was packed, but Kylo saw his target at a table, sitting alone and sipping calmly at a hot drink as he read something from a laptop. Kylo sat down and noted the tag hanging out of the cup. Green tea. 

“Look how old you’ve become,” Kylo said. 

Lor San Tekka closed the computer. “Something far worse has happened to you.”

“You know what I’ve come for.”

“I know where you come from. Before you called yourself _Kylo Ren_.”

“The documents from Skywalker. We know you received them. And now you’re going to give them back to First Order.”

“First Order rose from dark intentions. You did not.”

“I’ll show you dark intentions.” Kylo reached into his pocket, rolling the tech between his thumb and forefinger.

“You may try, but you cannot deny the truth that is your family.”

Kylo took a breath and pressed the button on the trigger. “You’re so right.” The two men made steady eye contact until Kylo heard a woman to his left swear in frustration, then a man two tables down from them groaned. The cash register began to beep as a barista furiously attempted to restart it, and the debit machine printed an endless receipt. The chatter in the coffee shop grew panicked. 

“What have you done?” Lor San Tekka said. 

“Blanked all the technology in the area,” Kylo admitted. “Super-magnetic field stimulator.”

Lor San Tekka closed his eyes, defeated. Kylo took the time to stand, turning and exiting the coffee shop.

 

*

 

Starkiller Avenue turned onto Niima Road, which Kylo followed all the way down until it curved into Takodana Street, which overlooked Hosnian Way. From Takodana, Kylo could get off at the traffic circle which led him home to Coruscant Plaza, where his apartment rocketed towards the sky. Every day he drove this route, first one way, then the other. And every day, Kylo took in the residents of the Jakku district as they huddled and slept along Niima Road in the early morning, and then as they begged and offered their drugs and services in the evening. He knew the faces, knew who had the good drugs, knew who owned the women who painted their faces and cried out to him as he drove past. 

So he knew that the girl on the corner of Niima and Outpost was new. She was thin, a heavy user, he assumed, with long brown hair done up in buns and not enough makeup. She wore neutral colours, and he wondered how she had made it this far into the night without being run down by a drunk driver. She was near invisible. Except … as he drove away, she lingered in his mind. Something about her rippled through him. He shook it off and continued home.

 

*

 

The coke was good. Kylo did a line as soon as he got home, then went about his routine. He removed the wrapper from a protein bar and scarfed it down, then cracked a beer to wash the sticky remnants from his teeth. He settled into his large leather sofa with a straw, a mirror, and the clicker to his projection television and turned on the news. He did another line and felt it rush and around his blood until his toes curled and he wanted to scream. The woman on the news spoke of an upcoming election, a recent act of vandalism thought to be done by resistance fighters, and a drive-by on the corner of Niima and Outpost. Music played and suddenly a man was pointing out weather patterns and smiling broadly. Kylo paused the television, then rewound. The corner of Niima and Outpost. While Jakku district was known for its violent spats, Kylo felt the curiosity of a bystander. He had just been by there, and he didn’t notice any sign of a shooting. In fact, all he had noticed was the skinny girl with the long hair. 

There was one picture of the crime scene, blurry and small and to the left of the newscaster’s head, but Kylo could make out a blue car and a beige blur, standing to the side, seemingly unaware that her picture was being taken. Was the blue car the suspect’s? Victim’s? Or was this just some image of the intersection taken for the story. The newscaster didn’t say anything about it, didn’t even ask for anyone with information to come forward. Kylo pressed play and the image jumped back to the weatherman, who insisted that there was rain on its way, paired with a side of heavy winds. Kylo did another line, and thought about the girl. 

 

*

 

Coruscant. Takodana. Niima. Starkiller. Hux handed him a coffee as he entered and sat in front of a monitor the size of four average computer monitors. He watched as people entered carrying breakfast wraps and protein shakes. The meals of the young and tech-obsessed. First Order buzzed from eleven until two, when everyone took off for four hours only to return to work late into the night. Kylo Ren practically lived here. 

“I hear you cleared Lor San Tekka’s personal computer,” said Hux, and Kylo could feel the smirk under the surface of the words. 

“He got the message.”

“Oh, I’m sure he did. Too bad he had already sent the documents over to a resistance fighter.”

“He … what?”

“A ransom went up at four in the morning. I tried to call you.”

Kylo had fallen into a deep crash around three. He hadn’t looked at his work phone yet.

“What do they want?”

“They will leak the document to the public if we don’t give them the names of every First Order executive.”

“Not happening.”

“Well obviously,” Hux drawled. “But we need to get creative, Ren. They can’t have this information while we have nothing.”

“Who did he give it to?”

“What?”

  
“Who sent the ransom?”

“It came from the server of one Poe Dameron.”

Kylo didn’t recognize the name. “Where is this server?”

“D’Qar Square.”

“Resistance HQ.”

“That’s what I said.”

Kylo scowled and knocked his coffee off the desk, narrowly missing the mess of wires on the floor. He didn’t care. “I’m going down there.”

“Ren.”

“I AM GOING DOWN THERE.”

 

*

 

Niima was nearly empty during mid-morning, with most of the residents asleep in the warmth of the sun and the safety of daylight. As he passed Outpost, Kylo noticed that the girl was still there, still standing, still in her dirty beige clothing. He turned onto Outer Rim Highway and made his way towards D’Qar Square. 

Kylo Ren knew the square well. He parked in the third lot and walked into the main HQ. It looked similar to First Order’s spacious main room, but where the First Order took pride in clean metal lines and employees kept amicable, the Resistance took a military stance, with fluorescent lights and people who looked as though they hadn’t slept in years. 

No one looked up as he entered, all glued to rows of computer screens. 

“POE DAMERON," Kylo called, and this got their attention. Eyes widened with the sight of him, their enemy, in their very own space. One man stood up. 

“I'm Poe.” 

“You have something I want,” Kylo said. “And as I’m sure your friend Lor San Tekka has informed you, I have something that you do not want me to use.” He pulled out the electromagnetic stimulator. 

“We’re backed up onto multiple servers,” Dameron said, and furrowed his brow as if wondering how stupid Kylo Ren could be. 

“Obviously. But I imagine not everyone has backed up their data in the past, say, ten minutes. Perhaps not even for hours.”

People quickly turned to look at Poe, and — by Poe’s reaction — they must have had fear in their eyes. Kylo shad struck the truth. 

“What do you want?”

“A private conversation, that’s all.”

Poe waited a moment and looked around at the faces of the Resistance. “Follow me.” He led Kylo to a back room. 


	2. Escape The Nest Somehow

Rey nearly threw herself into the garbage can behind the Chinese restaurant. Last night she had found leftover dumplings, completely wrapped and untouched. She couldn’t hope for anything as good for lunch, but even scraps would help. She had yet to pick up a customer and the money she had earned from the diamond nose ring she had found outside of the Niima dive bar had only earned her enough for an umbrella. She had overheard she might need one soon.

Five days. She had been on the street for five days after someone found her squatting in her old warehouse hideaway. The first two nights she made do on the food she had collected, but then she had to make a plan. For three days she attempted to sell herself. For three days, not a single car stopped. 

Well, one car had stopped. The man inside had leaned out the passenger window with a shotgun and Rey had dropped to the ground. But the shooter had no interest in her, and took fire at a man who was sprinting down the road, heading away from Niima Coffee. Rey knew better than to look too long, but the man who was running seemed too well dressed to be gang affiliated. No, he looked more like one of the techies who had run her family out of their home. What was weirder was the laniard he dropped. A silver and gold orb with the characters _BB-8_ carved into the side hung from the string. It was beautiful, and as soon as the car was gone, Rey had pocketed it.

At the bottom of the bin she found three soggy spring rolls. She tentatively sniffed at them and found that they were soaked in sweet and sour sauce, then devoured the snack quickly. It would have to do. She found quiet alley and curled up on herself, ready for a long night, and gave silent prayer that it would not rain.

 

*

 

The next afternoon, a car stopped in front of her. She felt her heart race, and realized suddenly that the prospect of money had her actually excited. Rey embraced it, knowing the fear would come later. A man leaned out the window and beckoned to her with two fingers. 

“How much?”

Rey hadn’t thought this far ahead. “A hundred?”

“For you? Nah. I’ll give you fifty.”

Rey felt the sting of insult, but the pain of hunger ached more. “Okay.”

“Get in,” he said. 

When she was in, he began driving quickly, and now Rey felt the anxiety set in. 

“What’s your name?” She asked. He looked at her sidelong. 

“Teedo,” he answered gruffly. He didn’t ask for her name, but after a few moments of silence, he asked who owned her.

“No one,” she said. She toyed with the orb that hung around her neck. She had taken to keeping it hidden under her shirt, but the man hardly looked at her, and she felt safer with it in her fingers.

“No one?”

“No.”

He turned hard on the wheel. “Change of plans,” he announced. “We’re going to see Unkar Plutt.”

 

*

 

Rey couldn’t decide if she was relieved that Teedo had brought her to the only bar on Niima street and not some cheap motel, or if she should be suspicious. The nature of the conversation that led her here should tip the scales towards suspicion, but she felt some of the butterflies in her stomach evaporate at the concept of a public location. She only hoped she would still get her money. 

Her relief dissipated when Teedo pushed her around back and knocked a complex rhythm on an office door. 

“What is it?” A voice called.

“I have something to offer you,” Teedo called back. The door swung open and behind it was the largest man Rey had ever seen. 

“A girl,” he declared. 

“Working the street. Belongs to no one.”

“Is this true?” He looked to Rey. 

“It is,” she said meekly. 

“Bring her in.”

The office smelled of mildew and old beer. Rey remained standing while the two men assessed her. They whispered and Rey saw the large man give Teedo a wad of money. 

“Will I still get paid?” She asked. The large man chuckled. 

“Did you use her service?” he asked Teedo.

“No. I owe her nothing.”

The large man nodded and then stood, looming over Rey so she couldn’t run. “You are owed nothing. And from now on, any profits you make belong to me. You may live here, in the room at the end of the hall.”

This was a lot for Rey to take in, so she just nodded.

The man grinned and held out his hand. “And you may call me Unkar Plutt.”

 

*

 

Rey’s room was small and shared the mildew scent with Plutt’s office, but there was a roof and for this she was grateful. A mattress lay on the floor and seemed to have been chewed by rats, but Rey sat on the edge and took in the space. Her new home. Plutt had even promised her some of the leftovers from the bar at the end of each night. The was a small pile of concrete dust and nails in the corner, and Rey picked up a nail and scratched a line into the drywall. Her first night.

She was not naive. Rey knew what the arrangement meant. She will have to start prostituting on the regular, and giving in to Plutt whenever he wants her. Her room didn’t lock, but in the moment she was as close to happy as she had been in years. She settled in, and promised herself that tomorrow she would get her umbrella from where she stashed it in the alley and bring her only possession back here. Tomorrow night, Plutt assured her, she would be working. 

 

*

 

The rain began in the middle of the night, and Rey curled in on herself on the mattress. Springs poked at her ribs, but she didn’t care. She smiled, happy to be off of the street for the storm. The wind howled. 

 

*

 

Her first client was a yellow-haired man with three chins and small hands. It was midday when he arrived at the bar. He invited her into his car and began to drive through the rain. He might have told her his name, but the rain made it impossible to hear. When he pulled over onto where Niima street met Takodana, she felt confused. There was nothing here. No motel, no houses. Just alcoves between boarded up shops. He pushed her towards and old liquor store and she went, feeling the rain soak into her hair and run down her face. 

“Where are we going,” she shouted into the rain. 

“Go,” he urged, so she did. Once she was pressed against the wall, she turned, and he held up a knife. She screamed but he clapped a hand over her mouth. “Shut up, or I’ll sink this into one of your kidneys.”

She nodded, her eyes wild. She thought of her room behind the bar, the one etch in the wall. No one would find her.

“Now, I just want to cut you a little. Just want to see you bleed.”

She blinked hard, unsure of when the tears began to fall, her face already soaked with the pummelling rain. He raised his knife to her temple and pressed slowly, then slid down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and Rey are about to meet. I promise.


	3. Restless Liars and Dealers On the Take

The room that Poe led Kylo into was decorated with newspaper clippings about resistance attacks and cyber hacking. Kylo read the headlines for a moment before turning his attention to Poe. 

“Proud of your achievements?”  
  
“We both know that the resistance did almost none of those attacks,” Poe said. “But that’s not why you’re here.”

“No,” Kylo agreed. “I came for the documents.”

“I don’t have them.”

“Bullshit.”

“I don’t. I dropped them when your henchman tried to kill me.”

“I didn’t send anyone to kill you. _You_ set a ransom last night.”

“The General’s idea. She wanted to spook you. Wanted to see if it was enough.”

“If what was enough?” Kylo had a hundred questions running through his mind. He waited.

“Whatever’s in the documents.”

“You don’t know.”

“Lor San Tekka gave me a drive. I was on my way back here when I was shot at. And you’re telling me you had nothing to do with that.”

Kylo shook his head, more to himself than as an answer. “Where did you drop it?”

“Look, I don’t know what’s on there, but I do know that it would be destruction if you were to get the documents before the public did.”

There was no point in pressing. At this point, every resistance fighter had backed up their data to the server, and he couldn’t hack anything standing in this room. He put his hands up in a placating gesture. “Fine. I’ll leave you alone. But tell the General that we are not impressed at First Order. There will be repercussions for this … prank.”

Poe remained still while Kylo turned and left, breathing deeply and plotting his next move. 

 

*

 

Kylo did not return to work. Instead, he headed home. The sky was clouding over and it seemed to match his temper. His father had told him at a young age that storms were sometimes called tempests, and the root of temper came from the word. Kylo pushed his father out of his thoughts and accelerated. As he crossed the intersection of Niima and Outpost, he looked out for the girl, but the street was empty. 

At home he went straight for his computer. There was nothing that the resistance had that he needed, not if Dameron had been telling the truth. Kylo typed the lines of code he had long since memorized to hack into their database and saw that the activity on the server had been gradually lowering until he had threatened to clear their internal hard drives. This was not the behaviour of an institution with encrypted documents that held top-secret First Order information. If Dameron _had_ brought the files, there would have been a spike in activity. Knowing the General, no one would have been allowed to leave. 

Still, Kylo had promised revenge, so he threaded a line of code throughout their server that lead to an influx of pop-ups advertising gold-plated erotic handcuffs every time anyone saved to the server. They would be able to remove the code within a couple of hours, but Kylo didn’t care. He was exhausted, and he had only had a small hit of cocaine left from the night before. 

He went to his liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of vodka before taking a long swig. He shuddered with the taste but savoured the burn, then sank down in front of the television. No news today. No, today he just needed to get lost in some trashy television drama and drown the afternoon deep in the bottle.

 

*

 

 

It was midnight when Kylo Ren realized where the drive had been dropped. 

If Lor San Tekka had given it to Poe Dameron before Kylo Ren cleared his computer, but after he sent the email announcing he had found it (it was this email that led Kylo to the meeting-under-duress in the first place) then he had to have met Dameron in the coffee shop. And then Kylo remembered. 

He had seen Poe Dameron before. The resistance fighter had been fleeing the coffee shop when Kylo entered, had almost smashed into him when he went in. And Poe said he had been shot at. The drive by. Niima and Outpost. The girl. 

It was then that Kylo realized who he had to ask. 

 

 

*

 

The rain pelted against the window in Kylo’s bedroom. He woke up with the worst headache he had experienced in at least a year. His stomach felt stable enough, though, so he slowly got up and dressed. He looked at the clock. 10AM. It would be noon before he got himself to work. 

Kylo went to the shower, allowing the revelation of the night before to come back to him. He had to look on Niima street, but he had a hunch that if something as shiny as a flash drive had been dropped on in the Jakku district , it would have quickly been picked up by one of the beggars. And he knew of one who had been on the corner of the shooting for at least most of the day, judging from the TV news footage. He finished showering and got dressed, took pain meds for the headache, and threw on his hooded rain jacket. Hux would be wondering what had happened at Resistance HQ yesterday. Kylo did not check his phone.

He could hardly make out any of the usual landmarks of his trip into work. The traffic circle was done by rote more than vision, and Takodana flowed into Niima with the rain. Though, he could make out a car pulled to the side of the road. Kylo slowed down, unsure if they were about to pull out or if someone was hurt. He didn’t care about the latter, but his head was in a state and he could see himself being carelessly t-boned by some idiot pulling away from the circle. 

Instead, he noticed two figures clinging together in a doorway. Passion in the rain? Perhaps they had nowhere else to go. Except the car. Kylo slowed even further, curiosity getting the best of him. Something glimmered and Kylo swallowed, unsure if what he saw was real. But it was. A knife. The man was holding a knife up to a skinny girl who had her hair pinned back. The girl on the corner. Kylo pulled in close to the other vehicle and got out. He threw his hood over his head and stalked towards the pair. 

The girl saw him first and made a strangled scream, but the man gripped her throat in one hand. There was blood on her face, Kylo could see. He had been cutting her. Something flared within him. No. He needed this girl. She could have information about the drive, about the documents. 

“What is happening here?” Kylo said. 

“Get lost,” growled the man. Then he turned around.

Kylo was a foreboding figure. Over six feet tall with his face hooded in an expensive black raincoat. Kylo repeated his question.

“Who are you?” Asked the man, half in wonder. 

“Someone with a lot more power than you. Someone with your license plate number. So if you want to be tried for … whatever this is, continue. Otherwise, you will release the girl to me.”

“I paid for her.”

“You didn’t pay for this.” Kylo gestured at the girl, whose eyes were fluttering. Blood loss? Maybe he had injured her in more places than he could see. 

The man looked up at Kylo, then back at the girl. “She’s useless now, anyways,” he muttered, and released her. The girl crumbled to the ground, unconscious, and Kylo was quick to grab her behind the neck and knees. He held her for a moment, giving the man time to run off, before he took her back to his car. 

Well, shit. He couldn’t go back to work with some passed out prostitute in his car.


	4. I Lead You in a Fearful File

Rey woke up on a couch. At first she thought she was back home, back in her mother’s apartment, before the tech companies skyrocketed the rent had forced them out. But she became aware of her own body and realized it had been years. More than a decade since she had been in that space. She remembered her mattress behind the bar but this wasn’t that. No, she was somewhere else. The backing of the couch moved with unfamiliarity, shifting before her eyes. She rolled over.  
  
There was a bookcase across from her, on the left side of a large blank wall. Everything was white or black, and for a moment she thought she could be in a hospital. Her temple throbbed enough for it.  
  
The knife.  
  
She had been attacked. She recalled standing in the rain, waiting for death. But instead someone else had arrived. A black shadow against the downpour. She remembered her fear escalating, then nothing. And now she was here.  
  
There was a shuffling noise behind her and the sound of cutlery clinking against dishes. She tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea came over her and she was forced to slowly raise herself, then swivel gently to find the source of the noise.  
  
A man stared at her. He was tall, his hair a mess that fell around his ears. Threatening in his scope but there was something gentle about his eyes, which were looking right at her.  
  
“Hello,” he said, and his voice was deep but again had a sort of gentle youth to it. A touch of an accent, maybe. She couldn’t place it.

She opened her mouth in an attempt to speak but no words came. She coughed grit from her throat then tried again. “Where am I?’

“You’re my guest,” he offered, and then smiled. It was reptilian and put her on edge. It was then she noticed that he was holding a fork. His hands were wet. Doing dishes?

“Where is the other one?”

“You mean the monster who was on the verge of taking your life? I have no idea.”  
  
Rey shifted. No wanting to move too much, but needing to stretch her muscles from the night on the couch. The man cocked his head.  
  
“You’re afraid of me.”  
  
“That happens when you wake up in a stranger’s house with very little idea of how you got there.”  
  
The man stood up and approached her, then put the fork on a coffee table. He held his palms up and spread his fingers in a placating gesture. “I saved your life. You don’t seem all that grateful.”  
  
The words irked Rey but he didn’t say them with malice. It felt more like there was a question he was waiting to ask, but instead he took a few more steps towards her. Rey put her feet on the floor, ready to run if she had to, ready for escape.  
  
“I’m Kylo,” he said. “What’s your name?”  
  
“Rey.”  
  
“Alright, Rey. I’ll be honest, I did want to talk to you. I didn’t expect to find you … well, I didn’t plan on any of this,” he gestured at the couch, “but it did work out, in a way. I think you might know something about an item I lost.”  
  
Rey had to wrap her mind around that. She didn’t know this man. He couldn’t know her. She sucked in a breath. “What did you lose?”  
  
“A flash drive. On Niima Road. A friend of mine dropped it. I know you've been working the corner there. I thought maybe you could have seen it.”  
  
Rey flinched and then braced herself on the couch. He couldn’t have missed the reaction, but everything about this set alarm bells ringing in her head. No way would she give him the flash drive, not without more information. Or at the very least, money. Then again, she could feel the drive against her sternum. He easily could have seen it on her when he brought her here. She had no idea what liberties he had taken. She shook her head as a response to his waiting gaze.  
  
“You have to understand, Rey, that the information on that drive is my livelihood. It’s my future.” His eyes glinted. Rey looked around the space again. Pricey furniture, huge suite, a tech worker.  
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  
  
Kylo pressed closer and Rey finally stood. She didn’t like the feeling of being trapped on that couch, but she also felt afraid that his height would give him some view down her shirt. She needed to hide the drive as soon as she could.  
  
“I think I need to splash water on my face,” she said, and hoped that sounded genuine. She had never felt that particular need, but women in films seemed to. Kylo, thank Gods, nodded and raised an arm to point towards a door.  
  
In the bathroom, Rey stared at herself in the mirror. She had a thin cut along the side of her face, but she otherwise looked unblemished. She pulled the flash drive from around her neck and opened the cupboard beneath Kylo’s sink. As a kid she had hidden things behind the drain pipe. She could retrieve the drive before she left — whenever that would happen — by asking to use the restroom again. It was easy.  
  
She emerged to find her host waiting for her. His arms were crossed and he had a deep frown.  
  
“You’re sure you haven’t seen anything like it?”  
  
“I think I would remember,” Rey said. She felt more confident now that the object in question wasn't on her person. “I don’t have what you want. What else do you want from me?”  
  
“How long has it been since you ate a proper meal?”  
  
Rey didn’t know how to answer that, didn’t know how to answer that. “What defines ‘proper’?”  
  
“That’s what I thought. Sit at the table. I’ll make you something.”  
  
Rey had the suspicion that this kindness would not be free. She had been living in the Jakku district too long for such assumptions. Still, she was hungry, and willing to give a great many things to quell the ache in her stomach. Even to a tech worker.  
  
She sat down and watched Kylo swing around his kitchen. Cracking eggs and splashing orange juice into a tall glass.  
  
“What do you do?” She asked.  
  
“Do you know of First Order?”  
  
“I’m not dull.”  
  
“I’m the CEO.”  
  
“No,” Rey said. He looked at her with an odd expression and Rey wondered if her incredulity had been rude. “I mean. That’s … You’re …”  
  
“Disgustingly rich?”  
  
“Famous,” Rey breathed. The reality of her situation was sinking in. The CEO of First Order had lost something — something important — and Rey was in possession of it. She wondered about the man she saw running from the coffee shop, the shooter in the car.  
  
“I suppose,” said Kylo. He flipped the omelet. “And what about you?”  
  
“What do I do?” Rey thought he knew. He had mentioned Niima, had mentioned the corner.  
  
“No, no.” He chuckled. “I meant more … Who are you? Rey of Jakku. There must be more.”  
  
“It’s a long story.”  
  
“Another time, then. Omelet is done.” He placed a plate in front of her and Rey had to stop herself from shoving the entire meal into her mouth at once. The first bite was incredible.  
  
“Why are you being so kind?”  
  
“Because, Rey. I know you lied to me before.”  
  
Rey’s blood chilled, but he had accused her with a gentle smile. It was contradictory information and she couldn’t fuse it.  
  
“I read people,” he said. “Rather well, actually. You don’t get to the top of First Order without … people skills. You shifted, tensed when I mentioned the drive. I could almost see it in your eyes.”  
  
“I…”  
  
“Hush. Eat your food. It is not my intention to frighten you. But know that you will give me the information that I need. Know that I can take from you whatever I want.” His eyes darted over her body then. It was fast, but she didn’t miss it. Her mouth felt dry, she didn’t want to eat, but he gestured to her food and she shoved another bite into her mouth. “Eat all of it, Rey. We have quite the day ahead of us.”


	5. A Precipice of Fate

She was afraid of him, despite his insistence that she not be. Her eyes darted around the space for some way out, or a weapon. He could see the desperation, could almost feel it, and he wanted her to writhe in it. Instead, he smiled.  
  
“Relax,” he said, and it was almost an order. She had finished her food and he stood, watching her, waiting for her to make a move. She didn’t. He went to her, brushed his hand against her hair and felt her shudder. “I’m not mad,” he said. “I know that you think you found something important. Something you could use, but I need it. And you will give it to me.”  
  
She stood, abruptly, both of them caught off guard by the screech of the chair as it was forced back. Instincts kicked in and Kylo caught her wrists, thinking she was going to attack him.  
  
“You will tell me where the drive is.”  
  
“I don’t know.”  
  
“You’re lying.”  
  
She struggled against his grip and he pushed her so that her back was against the smooth chrome of the refrigerator.  
  
He stared at her, “Where are you from?”  
  
“I don’t remember.”  
  
“You continue to lie to me and we will see what happens to you.” Kylo swallowed. He hadn’t intended to be that cruel, but the situation was getting the best of him. He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Rey. I just need that drive.”  
  
“I don’t have it,” she said, and he squeezed her wrists tighter. “I did, I did. But I don’t have it on me.”  
“Can you tell me where to find it?”  
  
She nodded and he released her. She would stay here, then. He would retrieve the drive and then she could have her freedom. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the only option he had.  
  
Until his phone rang.

 

*  
 

Goddamn Hux. Fine, it was true that Kylo’s work attendance lately had been spotty at best, and it was true that by now Kylo should have resistance intel that concerned all of First Order, but the red-headed ass still had no right to threaten to go public with his history if he didn’t get into work for the afternoon.  
Kylo left the girl in his room, sure that she would leave as soon as he did, even though he promised he would find her again. And he would. She didn’t have the means to properly flee, and he would be out of work as soon as he could. Even Hux couldn’t keep Kylo after five pm.  
  
The rain had let up and the drive was almost nice, the sun glinting off wet pavement and the grimier parts of town a little more sanitary, at least in appearance. And appearance is all that matters from the safety of a car. Kylo didn’t hurry to work, but he wasn’t planning any stops either. He looked over at the place where he had seen Rey for the first time, the place where she had collected the drive.  
  
How was he going to explain that one to Hux?  
  
The employees of First Order didn’t hide their curiosity when he entered, so he was sure to think calm thoughts as he made his way through the main lobby and towards Hux’s office.  
  
Where Kylo had insisted his office be painted in dark colours with red accents, Hux chose white and gold. The power move was not subtle, and Kylo detested being in the bright ornate space. Hux sat at his desk with his hands steepled.  
  
“So. You stopped a leak.”  
  
“There was never going to be any leak. They were bluffing.”  
  
“They don’t have anything on us?”  
  
“Well.” It would be bad to lie, right? Maybe Hux could prove helpful. They were on the same team, after all. “There has been a loss of data. A drive full of information. But I have the location. I would have it in my possession by now if you didn't … insist that I come here today.”  
  
“You’ve been leaving me out of the loop.”  
  
“I have it handled.”  
  
“If you say so.” He paused. “Fine, Ren. But if you don’t have this under control by the end of the week I’m going to have to take measures into my own hands.”  
  
“Fine,” Kylo agreed. It was Tuesday. He had plenty of time.

 

*

 

He found her at the bar where he knew that she lived. She hadn’t even attempted to hide from him, and was throwing her few possessions around, shoving some into an old grocery bag and tossing the rest against the back wall.  
  
She spun when he gently tapped against the doorframe, her eyes wide, but her tense posture relaxed fairly quickly. It shouldn’t. She shouldn’t be relieved to see him. This didn’t bode well for the respectability of her other potential guests.  
  
“You’re running?”  
  
“I don’t have what you want.”  
  
“Sure. But maybe I have something you could use.”  
  
“Doubt it.”  
  
Kylo nodded. He looked her over. She wore a loose tank-top and tight jeans that were torn and dusty at the knees. She looked frantic, but not because of him — there was something else. Her eyes moved to the hallway behind him and he understood. There was another threat. A choice she had made.  
  
“You’re running,” Kylo repeated, this time not a question. “You’ll need a place to stay.”  
  
“I have a place,” she said. “There’s a shelter. I’ll go there.”  
  
“Not the Skywalker place?” Her eyes flashed and he knew he had called it.  
  
“Come with me instead. I have a spare, well, half of my house. Think of it like renting the basement. I’m due for a charitable act. And you could have it for as long as you like for the low price of one drive.”  
  
“I told you—“  
  
“And I saw through it. You’re not as good a liar as you think you are.”  
  
Rey bit her lip. He liked that, wanted to be the one doing the biting. She scrunched up a sweater in between her hands, thinking, then she turned her back to him. He saw her shoulders arch, then heave. Crying. She was crying.  
  
“You’re lonely,” he said. “You can’t stay here like this. Can’t live in some fantasy of a life, not when I’m offering you that life. Come on, Rey.”  
  
“Okay,” she said. “Yes. But I don’t have the drive. I can take you to it. I can take you to it tomorrow.”  
  
Kylo felt the weight of the small victory. In his presence she wouldn’t be able to hold out. It wouldn’t be long. He had four days. He could wait one more. He nodded and held out his hand and waited for Rey to take it. They shook, then he turned out of the room, giving her privacy to finish the packing, giving her time to follow him out to his car.


	6. I Can Read You Like a Gumshoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey moves in with Kylo. Kylo hasn't forgotten the deal.

Rey had seen a few of the documents. She had waited until she knew Kylo had left and then plugged it into his computer, which he had left open and unlocked. Some tech genius he was. What was on the drive surprised her only insofar as it was simple. One folder of documents. Encoded simply.

It was an easy solve. 

Unscrambled and decoded, the first document was a list of names. First Order executives and the money they were making. Email addresses, phone numbers. It was everything, about everyone. In the right hands, someone could use this to bring down First Order. 

The next document was a list of passwords and security clearances. It looked like the document that would be given to a new employee — the information could only get you so far inside, but employees of the First Order were signed to secrecy on threat of a law suit. This information had never been leaked before. From there on, the documents became more specific, more volatile. Rey assumed that some of these could lead to legal investigation, probably a few arrests.

This drive was power. First Order was one of the only tech companies that exclusively served the rich; they had risen out of the remnants of a right-wing party in the wake of a mega- loss, armed themselves with super-hackers and the kind of coders who would do anything to get out of their parents basements. Anything, including sell their souls to a company with an elite and top secret client list. But of course, there were rumours. 

More snooping around Kylo’s place offered details of a cocaine habit, a bachelor lifestyle, and possible alcoholism. Or perhaps he just didn’t take out his recycling. He had recognized her from the corner, so Rey assumed he wasn’t averse to taking home a girl now and then. Well, none of these tech men were. They usually just looked online instead of down the road. The girls on the corner never lasted long, Rey knew. The Blockbuster Video of sex work. Everything was anonymous. 

Anonymity was the name of the game. 

When she got back to the bar, she began to pack her things. She needed to get out of here — wasn’t interested in being mixed up in the tech world. Not since they had taken everything from her. But then he arrived. Tall and imposing and filling up her only exit. He had a way of standing that filled space: his legs wide and shoulders pushed forward. He scared her, but not as much as the idea of staying here did. 

But the offer — the offer was good. And escape in this moment seemed futile. So she followed him, resigned to give him back his drive. Her other option would be taking it to another company, and she didn’t have the time or the skills to do that. 

The room he provided her with was a whole basement, half-finished and smelling of incense. He had set up a bed with nondescript dark blue sheets and a thick white comforter. He stood back as she looked it over, as though he was waiting for her approval. Well, she was here, wasn’t she?

“Does my door lock?”  


He laughed, low and dark. “No.”

“Why not?”  


“It’s my basement, Rey. I didn’t plan on having someone live here.”

“So this, this arrangement isn’t so much a roommate thing as a—“

He scoffed. “Call it what you like, and tell me if you need anything else.” He turned to go upstairs again, and Rey realized that there wasn’t much to her space, sizable as it was. It was a bedroom. Nicer than what she had at the bar, but not more entertaining. So she followed him upstairs, but made sure to stomp up, to hold her own ground in his space.

He was sitting on the couch staring up at the television, which was playing some action movie that Rey didn’t recognize — wouldn’t recognize even if it was the biggest film of the year which, by the looks of it, it wasn’t. In front of him was a dime bag of coke and a set of keys. Classy. Rey hovered behind him and heard him sigh. 

“Help yourself to whatever’s in the fridge. I’m afraid there isn’t much.”

“Why are you doing this? Why are you allowing me to stay with you like this?”

He turned around, finally. “I’m not allowing you anything. This is a deal. I’m giving you this, and you are going to pay me with what you have which, by the way, I haven’t forgotten about.” He turned back to the television, so Rey moved closer to him, coming around so that he could, at least out of the corner of his eye, see her. She looked up at the television and tried to grab onto some aspect of the story. 

“What is this?”  


“Don’t know. It was on when I turned on the TV.” He reached for the drug and held it carefully in front of him. “You ever do any of this?”

Rey kept her eyes trained on the TV. “It looks bad.”  


“It’s not so— Oh.” He seemed to realize she was talking about the movie. “What do you like to watch?”

“I’ve never watched much of anything. And I don’t do drugs anymore.”

He spared her another glance, then watched her as she decided to sit down on the couch beside him. She could feel his gaze, his curiosity. She wasn’t ready to get into it. He turned back to the coke and dug out a rather large pile and held it carefully on the end of his key. He seemed to hesitate, and Rey wondered if it could possibly be on her behalf, but he gave in at last, then sat back against the couch. 

“The clicker is on the coffee table,” he said. “Change it if you want.”

Rey grabbed it and tried to decipher the buttons. She managed to find the guide and scrolled through, eventually settling on some stand up comedian as he rattled through his jokes. She put the clicker down, then shifted her body so that she was facing him. She took a deep breath so that he would notice her, and when he flicked his gaze in her direction, she started: “Why me?”

“What?”  


“Why are you doing this? Why all of this? Why me?”

“You picked up the drive, Rey. I should be asking you.” He sat up, his eyes intensely focused on hers now. A bit manic, she could tell. “I should be asking you,” he repeated. “Why Rey? Why you?”

They were locked in it. In an unknowing. They stared at each other for a moment longer, and Rey could see his wheels turning, she could tell he was coming to some conclusion. There was a connection forming, some mutual understanding. He was lonely, she realized. There was insecurity there. But about what?

“I suppose it doesn’t matter,” he said softly. “You’re here now. That’s all there is to it.” He fell back against the couch. “I have to go to work tomorrow.” He closed his eyes. “Please stay here. Don’t run away again. I’ll have to track you down. I might have to kill you.”

He said it so casually that Rey thought she could have misheard, but she knew she didn’t. She looked up at the comedian on the screen. Some skinny white guy in a suit. He looked sweet, innocent. He looked like the kind of person Rey would like to know. Instead she was here. But like he said, she’s here now, and that was all there was to it.


End file.
